It is with joy that I announce 2 newest members of our program to achieve Black Belt status; Chris Skaggs, CCO/CTO of Soma Games and Dmitry Rizshkov, Principle of Intelloware. Both Chris and Dmitry have impressed us at Intel. Both demand a high standard of themselves and Intel. They both are achieving quality development work, engaging our community of developers with passion, and leading by example. Join me in congratulating Chris and Dmitry on achieving our highest designation.

Chris Skaggs:

Chris Skaggs is the Founder, CCO/CTO of Soma Games. Based in Newberg, OR, Skaggs is a 12-year veteran in the creation of B2B and B2C technology solutions including five years in the mobile technology space. The Soma Games development team, Code-Monkeys, builds a variety of custom apps for iOS*, Android*, BlackBerry® and Intel®AppUp™, as well as the web-based backend software for a wide range of web and mobile apps. Chris has been an active participant in the Intel AppUp(SM) developer program and inspirational thought leader at industry events and online blogs. He has appeared as a technology consultant with Intel, Mobile Portland, The Software Association of Oregon plus several universities and business organizations. On the side Chris is a Speaker with Boot Camp Northwest (www.bootcampnw.com), and enjoys martial arts.

Dmitry Rizshkov:

After his first win in the Intel AppUp(SM) developer program contest, his life completely changed. “That contest was for me like a door to the new world filled with new opportunities and challenges, “according to Dmitry. Dmitry came to the program developing C++ apps for AppUp and has since adopted Qt and QML and is soon becoming a program expert and leader in Qt +QML development. He been with his job for about 12 years and is currently working on trying to improve his Qt and QML skills as well as work on TweeMee* twitter client. He also plans to release kids’ games for MeeGo*-based tablets. Dmitry has lots of ideas but only 24 hours in a day! During his spare time he likes spending time with his kids.

Chris and Dmitry join our existing and first set of Black Belts, Rick Vanner & Lee Bamber from The Game Creators, and Brian Burrows from Digital Rains

See the full list of our latest Intel Software Network Black Belts here